US Reviews -- cut and paste'em here!

4/29/05 - The Boston Globe

New Order WAITING FOR THE SIRENS' CALL Warner Bros. For some reason, the name New Order is hardly brought up when talking about the great bands of the '80s and early '90s. If it is, it's done grudgingly. But from the days of their early, more corrosive sound to their fabulous dance-rock heyday where they set the blueprint for so many of today's acts, New Order was an essential group. After a few comeback discs that paled by comparison with their best work, they return with a glorious set of songs that evokes the classic New Order brand without making them seem like aging rockers trying to recapture past glory. All the essential ingredients are in place, from the clash of electronic and organic elements to Bernard Sumner's plaintive vocals to Peter Hook's grandly ringing bass to a deft sense of irony and kitsch. Most striking is the sheer dance-floor throwback, 'Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" -- a rush of candy-coated fluff that a band like the Bravery would simply kill for. Wait until this gets remixed and burns down the clubs. 'Jetstream" flies by appropriately in a whoosh of sonics augmented by Scissor Sister Ana Matronic (call it paying respects to an obvious influence) while 'Working Overtime" is a stripped-down, guitar-driven gem that recalls the band's very early years. The 12-song set is produced by the band with five different producers including Stephen Street, but it clearly is made with one cohesive vision. Fans of New Order should rejoice -- and anyone who is going gaga over the flock of buzz bands making waves these days will find a fresh reminder of just who did it first. KEN CAPOBIANCO

© Copyright 2005 Globe Newspaper Company.

I don't get a review I read in the Sunday Toronto Sun. They gave the album 3 stars, then said it was a horrible disappointment and their work on Gwen Stefani's "the real thing" was better. (they also called get ready a disappointment) Then they did a track aby track review and seemed to like every song except Who's Joe and I Told You So.

What were they expecting from New Order? The Dark Side of the Moon? Thriller? Nevermind?

If I see it online I will cut and paste it. Maybe they took so long to write the review that they started to like it halfway through.

That stupid woman always gives dumb reviews. Did she like it or not?

Jackson Withrow wrote: I don't get a review I read in the Sunday Toronto Sun. They gave the album 3 stars, then said it was a horrible disappointment and their work on Gwen Stefani's "the real thing" was better. (they also called get ready a disappointment) Then they did a track aby track review and seemed to like every song except Who's Joe and I Told You So.

What were they expecting from New Order? The Dark Side of the Moon? Thriller? Nevermind?

If I see it online I will cut and paste it. Maybe they took so long to write the review that they started to like it halfway through.

Clearly a review of a guy that doesnt know the last 25 years of music. Throw away the paper and cancel the signature.

I used to love to read rock critics....I dont anymore- they just seem so stupid. None of them seem informed at all...theyre just reading some cheezy short bio before writing the reviews.

Does anyone remember RollingStone's double review of PC&L and BlueMonday? Then years later, thier review of Republic? That was worth reading....they were actually intelligent and insightful enough to know what was going on when they heard the music.

we should be avoiding this current shit....

I know, I'm reading it all, too.

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Jackson Withrow wrote: I don't get a review I read in the Sunday Toronto Sun. They gave the album 3 stars, then said it was a horrible disappointment and their work on Gwen Stefani's "the real thing" was better. (they also called get ready a disappointment) Then they did a track aby track review and seemed to like every song except Who's Joe and I Told You So.

What were they expecting from New Order? The Dark Side of the Moon? Thriller? Nevermind?

If I see it online I will cut and paste it. Maybe they took so long to write the review that they started to like it halfway through.

Clearly a review of a guy that doesnt know the last 25 years of music. Throw away the paper and cancel the signature.

Their sports section is worth the money alone. Seriously, it's like 10 pages long.

From today's New York Post

New Order "Waiting for the Sirens' Call" Warner Brothers

Even if you hate New Order because of its gloomy words and annoyingly devoted fans, there's never been any call to deny the band praise for its musicianship and songwriting. That's still true on this follow-up to the Manchester band's 2001 studio offering, "Get Ready." Here the group remains expert in cross-pollinating bare-bones rock with dance music. It's a near-perfect combination, and the rock foundation eliminates the repetitiousness of dance music.

Where Joy Division and older New Order were slowed with melancholy and mope, the band is so bright and upbeat on this record that it sounds like a great concert encore set. This is a disc that demands good speakers, volume and space to shake.

======================================= And found this article in a hard copy format Here's the text...

IN PERFECT ORDER

By MARY HUHN

May 1, 2005 -- Twenty-five years ago on May 18, Joy Division's Ian Curtis, whose voice penetrated dark-hearted souls with "Love Will Tear Us Apart," hanged himself.

And New Order was born.

Formed by Joy Division members still reeling from the death of their friend, the Mancunian band distinguished itself from the gloom-and-doom style of their former selves by having a party on the dance floor.

Now, for the first time in a quarter century, the group will sing a handful of Joy Division tunes while on tour, including "Atmosphere" and "She's Lost Control," as a tribute to Curtis.

"We never played them before," says frontman Bernard Sumner. "We felt if we were going to make New Order work, we'd have to do it under our own steam. Also we felt too upset to play them back then.

"It feels right to play them now," he adds.

Influenced by synth pioneers such as Kraftwerk and Suicide, New Order broke through in 1983 with the spectacular "Power, Corruption & Lies," which featured the best-selling 12-inch of all time, "Blue Monday."

With the lure of Sumner's melancholy vocals, New Order was a nonstop dance machine through out the '80s, living the "24 Hour Party People" life.

And it almost killed them.

"It really f---ed me up," Sumner told The Post, admitting, "We'd play a show and set up a disco party backstage - with strobe lights and a smoke machine. Then we'd go to clubs all night and then back to the hotel room to party. Before you know it, it's 7 in the morning."

Of course it took its toll. "We began behaving badly toward friends and making bad decisions," says Sumner, whose poison of choice was Pernod and orange juice.

But in 1992, it all caught up with him. On a 30-city-tour stop in Chicago, Sumner started throwing up for hours.

He dragged himself from his hotel room to the hospital on the corner. Turns out the constant drinking had scarred his stomach.

"It was stupid. I thought, 'If I carry on like this I'll end up dead or an alcoholic. I'm killing myself for Factory Records. I'm killing myself for the nightclub. I'm killing myself for a bar.'"

He decided not to kill himself for anything.

The band released only one album in the '90s (1993's "Republic") and while it never officially broke up, they didn't record an album for eight years.

Almost 49, Sumner says he's now more responsible (with a wife and three kids) and won't tackle such a grueling tour schedule again.

The band is on the road to support its latest disc, "Waiting For the Siren's Call." The five-city, abbreviated American tour kicks off in Coachella this weekend and hits New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on Thursday.

The band is as popular as ever. There are two films being made about Ian Curtis. Dozens of today's bands count New Order as an influence. Among all the '80s retro acts, Sumner likes the Killers the best. "They have nice suits," he says.

While New Order is respected and admired all over the world, Sumner still has some trepidation about performing - and yearns for more rehearsal time.

But don't fret.

"I'm sure it will fall into place," he says.

===========================================

Thought it was 1989 where Barney's stomach turned to shite

Anyways, 0000 hours, lights out, long drive ahead of me...See all of you Chicago Order fans at the Green Mill, ~4:00-4:30. Goodnight, and see you there

what's so bad about 'but out there the world is a beautiful place/ with mountains,lakes and the human race'?

It's a perfectly good rhyme you stupid, stupid dolts. I swear most journalists just regurgitate what they read some other journalist write. How else could so many writers come up with the 'rose from the ashes' (groan) metaphor.

I'm not being biased as a fan. Most of the bad reviews are so poorly written they might as well have been cut and pasted from amazon.com. That Entertainment Weekly review is hands-down the dumbest one yet, even though it was positive. Were they even listening to the right cd?

As far as I know the only real requirement to write copy is a BA. In anything. If that. It's sad to think that people think what they read in magazines and newspapers are written by experts.

Some of the dumbest reviews are the ones where sassy magazine writers over-use obscure pop culture references and similes to the album they are reviewing. They do it to the point where you have no idea whether they liked the album or not, or even what they are talking about. They generally read like

New Order- Waiting for the Siren's Call

Veteren brit-goth-electro act return to the gallows once again with an effort that would make Julia Child scream "Where's the fire?!". Not to be outdone, we heard the manchester scene topped out when Noel Gallagher spun out on the White Striped faster than Ernie Els at an acid house. ***

Okay, it is a little sarcastic but I they can be very confusing, you really do wonder if they listen to the albums at all.

Landon Bradley wrote: what's so bad about 'but out there the world is a beautiful place/ with mountains,lakes and the human race'?

*Yeah, what's so bad?! I mean, I thought it was crap at first too, but then I just realised it's a good optimistic rhyme in the life affirming mood of this uplifting anthem to love, so nothing bad really. Maybe the only bad thing is quite a lot of other songwriters would have killed to write it?!

Baltimore Sun:

New Order Waiting for the Sirens' Call (Warner Bros.) **** (out of ****)

With its trademark blend of guitar-driven post-punk and synth-driven dance music in full bloom, New Order's second album since its late-'90s re-formation is thoroughly satisfying, hitting the peaks of the group's finest work.

Guitarist-vocalist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris were members of Joy Division, the gloomy, powerful band from Manchester, England, led by vocalist Ian Curtis. They morphed into New Order in the wake of Curtis' 1980 suicide and hit big with 1983's "Blue Monday," still the best-selling 12-inch single of all time. The group had an acrimonious breakup in 1993, but reassembled five years ago for some well-received live shows, releasing the decent comeback Get Ready in 2001.

Maxim Blender ***

New Order Waiting for the Sirens’ Call

(Reprise) Release Date: 4/26/2005

Eighth album from the Manchester dance-rock heroes Reviewed by Dorian Lynskey

Despite their remarkable legacy—1983’s “Blue Monday” stayed in the U.K. Top 200 for five years—New Order have always shrugged off the weight of expectation. Their best songs sound like they’re hardly trying, while their worst suggest they’re not trying at all. Waiting (their first album without keyboardist Gillian Gilbert) zigzags between immensely beautiful and crushingly ordinary with disorienting regularity. How could the same people be responsible for both the yearning, wondrous “Turn” and the calamitous dance-pop of “Guilt Is a Useless Emotion”? How come nobody told Bernard Sumner that lyrics like “Real love can’t be sold/It’s another color than gold” needed more work? Yet the old magic remains: When New Order are on form, they’re transcendent.

One of the best reviews so far, though I don't agree with everything is well written and funny, this Dorian chap has some talent at least...

Mick Aneworderfan wrote: One of the best reviews so far, though I don't agree with everything is well written and funny, this Dorian chap has some talent at least...

I've been waiting to see the Blender review. It is the one magazine that I feel (not always) has good reviews.

Yeah,that's true.Power,Corruption & Lies is excellent.Only We All Stand is heavy going.But what with 586,The Village,Ecstasy on there,some of there best output.I remember reading onetime when NO did an interview with a known British music paper,and the novice asked if they thought LOWLIFE was a more optimistic album,than the "pesssimistic" PCL. "What makes you say that?" to which the novice interviewer replied,"Oh I don't know,a friend asked me to say it!". and as myth suggests,NO had his moped suspend up on a winch!!!

I love the "we all stand" on the peel sessions...

anyboby seen any gig reviews yet. please post them.